


Freeze

by elenam



Series: A to Z [6]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 02:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15087332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenam/pseuds/elenam
Summary: Cold temperature forces close proximity.





	Freeze

**Author's Note:**

> The sixth little story to my series :) Enjoy!

“What happened on February 10th 1899?” asked agent Christopher with her usual authoritarian tone, mere seconds after Lucy set foot in Mason Industries, the last member of the trio to arrive for their newest mission.

“I… You know you can use google right?” Lucy replied a little bit aggressively, tired that they always seemed to wait for her to get those answers while Internet was such a great invention.

“Oh, someone is in a mood today,” Rufus muttered under his breath to Jiya, who responded by hitting him in the ribs, but it was useless because Lucy had already heard. 

“Yes I am in a mood! I’m sorry, I just bumped into Noah this morning at the supermarket and let’s just say that it didn’t go really well,” Lucy sighed.

“Are you okay? What did he say again?” Wyatt asked with care, putting a comforting hand on her back.

Lucy shrugged out of his touch and pretended nothing happened, “I’m fine, sorry, hum February 10th 1899 you said? Well it might be the blizzard? That winter there was a big blizzard that stretched for 4 days, from the tenth to Valentine’s day. The temperature dropped below 0 almost everywhere, it even snowed in Florida,” she explained. 

As always she knew the answer to every historical question without needing research. It was something all her coworkers admired her for, and also the reason why they waited for her to give the answers instead of losing precious time googling something she already knew.

“Why would Emma want to go there? Doesn’t seem really fun,” Rufus scoffed, not enchanted at all at the idea of spending days freezing in the blizzard in a time period where hot boots and North Face coats had yet to be invented.

“I don’t know,” Lucy sighed, “Many people died in that blizzard. Like it often is, it’s probably about who died and who didn’t? There might be someone who was saved that day and whom Emma wants to make sure doesn’t survive this time. I don’t know, it’s all I can think of,”

“Or maybe she wants us to freeze to death and we are going to walk straight into a trap,” Rufus suggested, raising his eyebrows and shuddering at the mere thought.

“Well we can’t take that risk. While we are sitting here, she could already be changing history without us even knowing. A technician will print you out the list of all victims and important people involved. It might be a good start. Get ready to go in 20 minutes,” agent Christopher announced, clapping her hands together and motioning for the workers to get back to their job. 

The three time travelers followed the orders, disappearing down the hallway and towards the wardrobe dock. 

“Lucy, seriously, are you okay?” Wyatt asked moments later as they were choosing their clothing in the many racks of costumes. He showed Lucy what he planned to wear, some long leather coat lined with fur, but still not looking hot enough for what they were about to do. He couldn’t afford to be picky though and it was probably his best option. 

Lucy nodded in approbation for his clothes, “Yes I’m fine Wyatt. Just you know, bad morning,” 

Wyatt was sure he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t have the opportunity to add anything else because Lucy escaped the questions, disappearing in a changing cabin and locking it behind her. 

She only emerged out minutes before the launching of the lifeboat. She was dressed in time travel appropriated winter clothing with layers and layers of fabric and fur to keep her warm. She tried to make all that fit into her small seat in the lifeboat as Wyatt kept starting at her, questions swimming around his head. He wanted to try to question her once more, but it wasn’t the right time with all their colleagues close by. Still, he knew something was bothering her, and he was well intended on figuring it out fast. He wasn’t going to be fooled by that fake smile she had put on. 

When he helped her with her buckles, she didn’t even meet his eyes. Another clue that something wasn’t right. 

Wyatt kept his gaze on her as the lifeboat started to shake and grumble, a sign that their jump was about to happen. Seconds before the nausea of time travel became too much and he had to close his eyes, Wyatt’s glance met Lucy’s and he tried to tell her he was there for her, no matter what, but in return, he only met sadness in her big brown eyes.

Sadness he wanted to elucidate, but all that had to wait because as soon as they landed and the door slid open, Wyatt knew they were in for a rough mission. It had already started to snow and the floor was covered by at least a feet of fresh untapped snow. The wind was already hitting full force and even though it was only 4 PM, it was almost pitch dark outside. They could only faintly distinguish the outlines of a barely lit city, a city which was going to lose all power in a mere 4 hours according to Lucy. Considering the walk alone to the city was going to take them almost an hour and a half in those conditions, they didn’t have a single minute to lose if they wanted to make it and not be stuck in the cold. 

Resigning himself into having to postpone his conversation with Lucy, Wyatt made the first steps towards the city and out of silent agreement, his two colleagues followed him as they headed through the snow, bracing themselves from the wind and hugging their costumes tight to keep themselves warm. 

They didn’t speak for the whole time it took them to get to the city, except for Wyatt asking once in a while if everybody was alright and Lucy and Rufus answering with reassuring nods. 

The walk took them almost two hours, half an hour more than what they had planned. Lucy’s lips were getting blue from the cold and she couldn’t feel her fingers anymore. It felt as if her whole body was frozen from inside, almost to the bones. 

She walked the last half with chattering teeth, praying to find a warm place to rest soon. They had yet to find out why Emma was there, but she knew they weren’t going to be able to do anything without a hot cup of tea to warm them a little. She couldn’t think anymore and she could only guess that Rufus was in the same state. Maybe Wyatt wasn’t feeling as bad since he had been trained to support harsh conditions. Still, trained or not, there was a limit to how much one can take.

As soon as they reached the city, they spotted a small inn that looked open. A carved wooden sign stated it was also a tavern. This was exactly what they needed. They made their way to the door, without even having to ask each other about the idea of stopping there. Everyone needed some rest. 

They engulfed themselves in the inn, leaving behind the cold stormy winter air for the warmth of a wooden fire and strong alcohol. 

Lucy knew that their relief would be short lived since the power shortage was about to cut all the lights from the city plus the central heating from the richest buildings who could afford it. All that would lead to a fire wood shortage since the city wasn’t used to receive such cold temperatures and wasn’t ready to face it. Many people would literally freeze to death in the hours and days to come, hopefully no one from her team.

Their entrance hadn’t gone unnoticed by the workers nor the clients who eyed them, probably the first people who had pushed that door in a long time, the storm stranding people where they were. 

“Can I get you anything?” asked the bartender from behind his counter, eyeing his new clients. The tavern was full, people had probably chosen to come to this place for warmth since many of them lived in houses poorly isolated where only a fire wasn’t enough to keep the cold from creeping in. 

A huge fire was burning in every corner of the tavern, added with a central heating system that provided the room with comfortable temperature. People were glued to each other, trying to share the warmth of wool blankets and everyone was nursing a drink. Nothing like amber liquid to keep you warm.

“3 whiskies please,” Wyatt ordered before leading a shivering Lucy and Rufus to the only table available in the far back of the room.

They didn’t say a word until they had downed their drinks, needing the warmth to make them feel a little better. Even with the help of strong alcohol, Lucy kept shivering and still had blueish fingers. Seeing that, Wyatt took Lucy’s hands in his to rub them and warm them, but she withdrew from his hot grip.

Wyatt pretended he wasn’t offended by the gesture and raised his hand to order another round; he needed it to take his attention of his growing worries for his girlfriend. 

“What do we do now?” Rufus asked, “Can’t say I’m dreaming about going back out there and I doubt that Emma is really efficient in that cold either,” 

“I don’t know,” Wyatt sighed before he took a sip of his second drink, “I can’t seem to catch on why Emma could be here. Lucy studied the list and there is no one known who died during that blizzard and the particular city she jumped too isn’t famous for anything. It’s like she chose a random place, but why?”

“Lucy? You’re the historian, care to help us a little?” Rufus said, waving his hands before Lucy’s eyes, trying to catch her attention since she had been staring at empty air for the entire conversation. 

“Sorry, I’m… I have no idea, maybe we should just go back out there and look for her?” she suggested half-heartedly.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a man from the table behind them, who had clearly been eavesdropping, “It’s snowing even harder than before and there is like 2 feet of snow on every street. Everything is closed except this tavern. You’ll die if you go back outside.”

Wyatt thanked the man with a small nod, “He’s right you know,” he said to his teammates, lowering his voice so they wouldn’t be heard again, “Emma is as human as we are. She can’t accomplish anything in a storm like that. We should stay for the night and then figure something out tomorrow morning,”

“All right,” Lucy agreed with a shrug, “It’s not like I can think of anything that needs urgent historical protection,”

With all three teammates agreeing on the best course of action, Wyatt went to rent them rooms. One for Rufus and one for he and Lucy. They had been dating for a while now and there was no need anymore to get separate rooms. It saved them money and he felt better knowing he could keep an eye on his girlfriend, ensuring that Emma wasn’t trying to sneak up on her at night to bring her back to Rittenhouse. 

There were lucky, only two rooms were left for renting, just what they needed. They took their keys and made their way upstairs, emotionally and physically drained from the freezing snow and the icy wind. 

Still, as glacial as it was outside, Wyatt wasn’t prepared for the cold shoulder he was about to receive from Lucy.

“You want to go to bed?” Wyatt asked after he and Lucy had both settled in their room. 

“Hum… I… I think I’m going to hum… to maybe hum… take a little walk,” Lucy stuttered lamely, putting her coat back on, which was soaking wet from the melted snow.

“What? Lucy come on! There is already a huge storm outside! It’s pitch dark, you’ll only freeze and get lost!” Wyatt couldn’t believe his ears. There was no way he was letting Lucy go outside in the storm by herself. He didn’t know what was going on with her, but he knew he had to find a solution and fast. This wasn’t his Lucy. Something was clearly bothering her. 

“I… you’re right I, I just don’t feel like hum… like going to bed yet,” she tried, avoiding his gaze and dropping the drenched coat as a shiver passed through her. Wyatt was glad to see that she still seemed to have a little bit of common sense!

“Then we don’t need to go to bed right now. We can talk, but please let’s try to warm you up a little first,” Wyatt pleaded. He knew her hands were still frozen since he had tried to warm them a couple of minutes ago in the tavern. He could only guess that if she was half as cold as he was, she was still almost frozen. Plus, minutes before, he had seen a shiver pass through her and it was most definitely from the cold and her wet clothes. Waterproof stuff had yet to be invented and Wyatt had deeply missed it on their way to the tavern. Water had filled his boots and went through his coat and clothes, freezing him to the bone. He had spent the last hour trying to warm up, but he it had almost not improved at all. 

There was a fireplace in their hotel room, but Wyatt could sense that they were about to run out of wood. There were only a few logs left and it wouldn’t take a lot of time before they were going to be all consumed. He had to warm both he and Lucy before the temperature dropped again.

“I’m fine,” Lucy said, refusing his help.

“Lucy please, if I’m thinking about how cold I still am, I can guess you’re not that better. Snow went through your coat and everything is soaking wet. You need to get out of your clothes before you get sick,” Wyatt replied with a sigh. This wasn’t Lucy’s usual state. She wasn’t that whiny and stubborn usually. Yes, she was strong-minded, but it was always for good reasons whenever she stuck to her point. Ever since the beginning of the mission she had been keeping to herself and refusing Wyatt’s tries to help for no apparent reason, except that meeting with that stupid ex-fiancé of hers…

Lucy looked everywhere but at him, “Alright,” she sighed before taking off her coat and several layers of clothes and sliding under the covers in her undergarments, still refusing to meet his eyes.

Wyatt joined her with a sigh, but as soon as he went to encircle her in his arms like he did every night, she turned away from him and slid to the edge of the bed, escaping his embrace once again. 

“Lucy,” Wyatt began, hesitating to put his hand on her shoulder before withdrawing it and putting it under his head. Laying on his back, he stared at the ceiling for long minutes, trying to figure out what the problem was. 

What Noah had done to make Lucy act that way; all closed off and rejecting his affection? It was no coincidence that Lucy had stopped acting like his girlfriend the day she ran in her ex fiancé at the grocery store. 

He was about to finally ask her about it when he realized that Lucy had fallen asleep. Knowing that she needed her rest, he decided against waking her up and instead fell into a peaceful slumber himself. 

He woke up three hours later. The fire had died and the room was plunged in the dark. He could hear the glacial wind blowing through the cracks around the window. That was when he realized that Lucy was shivering next to him. She was still clinging to the edge of the bed as if touching him was the worst thing that could happen, but he had enough of it. He wasn’t going to let his girlfriend catch a pneumonia in 1899 because she was too stubborn to talk to him.

He encircled her with both his arms and tucked her closer to him, to try to warm her up a little, but it wasn’t long before she woke up and tried to wiggle free.

“Wyatt, please,” she protested weakly.

“No. You’re freezing Lucy. I don’t care why you are mad at me, I’m not letting you get sick!” he stated firmly, tucking her even closer to his side.

“I’m not mad,” Lucy finally said after some time, giving up the fight.

“Then why are you pulling away from me?” Wyatt asked almost desperately, really needing some answers.

Still facing away from him, Lucy finally shared with him what thoughts had been running in her head all day long, “Because I’m scared. Because of what Noah said this morning,”

The sole mention of the doctor made Wyatt’s blood boil in anger. While it seemed at first that Noah had well taken the breaking off of their engagement, the man had been quite hard to get rid of in the weeks that had followed. While being busy defeating a new Rittenhouse dynasty controlled by her mother, Lucy also had to deal with her ex-fiancé who kept knocking at her door in the middle of the night, sometimes to try to win her all over again, and others being so drunk that the only things he could manage were to yell insults at her window. The guy had been a real pain in Wyatt’s ass, mining Lucy’s self-confidence with his wounding words. 

But Noah had finally given up weeks ago when Wyatt and Lucy had moved in together, probably too scared of a face to face with Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan. 

Still, that hadn’t been enough to stop them from meeting randomly in the grocery store. The minute Lucy had told him how she had run in Noah in the morning, Wyatt had suspected that it was the reason why she was acting strangely, but it didn’t mean that hearing it from her didn’t hurt. He was tired of Lucy getting insulted and downgraded by that stupid doctor! 

“What exactly did that stupid Dr asshole said again?” Wyatt asked tightening his hold around Lucy, his way of showing her that he was there and that she could tell him anything. 

“Nothing but the truth,” answered a voice that Wyatt couldn’t believe was Lucy’s. It sounded so broken, so hurt, wounded.

“How many times will I have to tell you Lucy? Nothing that guy says should hurt you. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know the real you,” Wyatt whispered in her ear.

She suddenly turned in his arms to face him, her face streaked with tears and fresh ones pooling at the corner of her eyes, “No, but he knows you apparently. He… he…, he said that you’ll never love me enough, that I should stop trying to replace Jessica,”  
Lucy began and Wyatt stayed silent, waiting for her to empty her heart.

“I swear Wyatt that it is not what I want! But he’s right, how can I hope I’ll ever be enough? I wasn’t even enough for my own mother! And I hate it because I love you so much! But I’m just scared that one day I’ll wake up and you’ll tell me you’re leaving me, or that you’ll get another chance at bringing her back and that you’ll succeed this time! And I know it is selfish, but what will I do if it works? Where will I go? I have no sister, no mother, no friends. I’m just scared,” Lucy finished, letting out fresh tears.

Wyatt’s heart broke at her confession; “Oh Lucy, you’ll never be alone. After everything we’ve been through, I realized long ago that I have to accept that Jessica is my past. Trying to get her back could do more harm than good. Who knows what kind of persons we’d be? I’ll never forget her, she’ll always be my first love, but you are my present. You’re the person I love. I’ll never leave you.”

“You really mean that?” she asked, doubts still clouding her judgment. 

“I do. I love you. And apparently I haven’t showed you well enough just how much if you still have doubts,” Wyatt said with deception. 

“No you did, I’m sorry for doubting you. It’s just hard sometimes. I’ve never done this before; the serious relationship thing. I guess I’m just scared that I don’t know how to handle it. And I know I shouldn’t let what Noah says affect me, but I can’t help it. He didn’t know the real me, but he still knew a side of me. He knows how to hit where it hurts I guess,” Lucy admitted, resting her head on Wyatt’s chest, finally feeling the peace come from sharing her thoughts with Wyatt and having him reassure her.

She had been wrong to doubt him and it had been foolish to believe Noah’s words, but there were still times where she thought it was impossible for someone like Wyatt to love her. She was learning to deal with her insecurities and the scars left by losing both Amy and her mother. 

She now knew that she could always count on Wyatt and she hoped the next time she’d be able to let him know what’s on her mind instead of pushing him away. 

One thing she had learned while time traveling was how there were a few people she could trust in life. Wyatt was probably the most important one. She knew that now.

“I love you Wyatt,” she whispered in the night before dozing off, finally warm inside and out, all because of Wyatt’s tight embrace and words of love.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it let me know ;)


End file.
